Boys varsity lacrosse: Team unsuccessful in stopping the Maverick stampede

BY OLIVIA LEWIS

The Cooper City boys varsity lacrosse team made their way to Archbishop McCarthy High School to play their fourth game of the season. Sadly, the boys were defeated with a score of 12-4.

The boys ran out onto the field waiting for the two players to set up for the faceoff. The referee blew the whistle, and the players fought for the ball. Archbishop won the faceoff and took it down to the Cooper City defense. Junior Anthony Carmona took the ball from the Archbishop player and ran it down the field, passing it to freshman Kadin Schillo. The ball was stripped from Schillo and the Mavericks ran the ball down. They had a shot, but senior Brogan Ness stopped the shot. The ball was passed to senior Craig Barr, but was taken away soon after.

“I think the team needs to improve on recovering ground balls,” Barr said.

An Archbishop player took a bounce shot and scored the first goal of the game. Cooper City lost the faceoff and Archbishop gained possession. They ran the ball down once again and an attacker took a hard shot, placing it right above the goalie’s head, making the score 0-2. Archbishop won the faceoff again and took another shot, but Ness saved it and passed it down to Schillo. He took a shot and hit the lower side net of the goal, scoring the first goal of the game. Archbishop continued to win the faceoff, taking the ball down and scoring another goal. Schillo won the next faceoff and passed it to Barr. Barr ripped a shot and made it, making the score 2-3. Cooper City won the next faceoff, but was quickly stripped of the ball. An Archbishop player took the ball down and junior Tyler Lewis forced the player to lose possession. Cooper City was unable to pick up the ground ball, allowing the Mavericks to score another goal. The Mavericks began to dominate and score three more goal after that, making the score 2-7.

The Mavericks came out strong again, scoring a quick goal. Cooper City won the next faceoff and moved it down to the attack. Two of the Cooper City players had shots on goal, but missed. The Mavericks gained possession and were able to score a goal. As the game started to go back and forth, both teams took many shots and missed. An Archbishop player took a hard shot at the goal, but Ness saved it and passed it to senior Justin Croye. He began to run it down, but was hit in the head by an Archbishop player. The player was given a yellow card and Croye was given the penalty. He passed it to an attack player who missed the shot. The Cowboys were able to take another shot before the half ended, but the goalie stopped it, leaving the score at 2-9.

The Cowboys didn’t give up, but the Mavericks came back out with a lot of energy. They quickly scored two goals in the first ten minutes. The Cowboys stripped one of the attackers of the ball and passed it down to Barr. Barr ran the ball in and took a shot, scoring the third goal for the Cowboys. The Mavericks were challenging the Cowboys.

Towards the end of the game, the Mavericks began to slow the game down. Archbishop dominated the rest of the faceoffs and scored another goal, making the score 3-12. The Cowboys continued to fight with the energy they had and were able to score one last goal.

The Cowboys fought until the very last whistle. Although they lost 4-12, the Cowboys took the game as a learning experience.

“The team needs to work on effort in practice because that eventually leads to how we play in the game,” junior captain Giodanni D’attilio said. “We will use this loss as a positive for Monday against Western.”

Final Score: Cooper City 4, Archbishop 12